Brits turn off Twitter, although teens and tweens keen on generative AI There was good news for Microsoft and bad news for Musk in the 2023 Online Nation report by the UK's data regulator. It seems Brits are falling out of love with X – formerly Twitter. The wide-ranging report regarding internet use in the UK found that while Alphabet and Meta-owned sites remained the most visited, X had suffered …
the most deeply uncool person in the world's buying up an "in" property in order to stay in pop culture relevance, and then all of the young uns that are the actual lifeblood of the platform exercising their right to free association.
Wait, that actually happened. Imagining not required.
Elon can do no wrong. He tells no lies (all just like his mentor Donald 45)
These figures must be fake news.
It was rigged.
Stop the steal
Oh sorry, this is the UK we are talking about. We aren't quite as far down the rabbit hole of no return like those on the other side of the pond.
Please, if you read this and still use the cesspit that Twittler has become, stop right now. It adds nothing to society.
Let him lose most of the few pennies he put into the deal to buy the pit of sewage.
"Please, if you read this and still use the cesspit that Twittler has become, stop right now. It adds nothing to society."
Become? It was always a roiling tsunami of bullshit. But it does have its uses - without it, so-called journalists would have to do some actual work instead of endlessly scrolling Twitter in search of a new Who Said What On Twitter story. And, of course, now his Muskiness is in charge, Twitter itself is the journalistic gift that keeps on giving.
> The old Twitter cooperated to remove hatespeech and antidemocracy. Elon delights in ignoring these demands
If you're talking bollocks, best to post AC.
The "Simply Wrong About Government Interference At Twitter" is both true and false. You need to look at the details. It is similar to big Billy Clinton not having sex with his intern. The govt people are not (that) stupid and are are not going to leave a trail of 1A violations behind them.
“government officials do not violate the First Amendment when they request that a private intermediary not carry a third party’s speech so long as the officials do not threaten adverse consequences if the intermediary refuses to comply.”
"The emails were phrased in advisory terms"
So basically the govt didn't tell twitter to "remove Trump or else" which is OK in law and doesn't violate the 1A. They just ask nicely and maybe twitter will tweak their TOS to that being orange with bad hair is now against the platform rules.
But when you boil it down, government officials DID ask various platforms not to carry certain third parties speech, they just didn't threaten adverse consequences.
Both administrations have 'requested' that content be 'moderated' and as you correctly say so have various high up branches of law enforcement.
The only reason I mentioned 'remove trump' is cos it was the highest profile case AND it was done while The Grand Cheeto was still president. Can't blame Biden for that one.
As ever someone just has to take a comment as partisan....
"But when you boil it down, government officials DID ask various platforms not to carry certain third parties speech, they just didn't threaten adverse consequences."
Edit: Append ", or else they made the threat of adverse consequences clear offline so as to maintain plausible deniability."
So... your choice was to write a comment (making you a commenter), to commenters, about how commenters in the specific forum that you are commenting in are ridiculous. And you expect that to go down well?
If you really believe that the post is being downvoted in error, you could do any number of things, from asking why commenters were downvoting, to offering reasonable supportive arguments of the original post. But you decided to go with an ad-hominem response to the entirety of the post's audience.
You must be a parody account!
I thought "everything I hate must be left-wing" was reserved to braindead MAGA-chumps.
But if you want evidence of ridiculousness, look no further than the comments to this very article. (and the previous one that mentioned Musk, and probably most of them)
Every post - however reasonable - that dares say something that may seem critical of Musk - is downvoted at least once. I'm not even talking about the insulting ones or even anything debatable. Anyone that dares not worship his Muskiness must be bad.. Just like with your orange god Trump. Why do you believe the widely debunked twitter files when the evidence is clear to see (and Sabroni even posted it)?
Very insecure and paranoid you chaps are - and the grifters know it. They exploit your cowardliness and fear and paranoia to whip up hatred and support.
Tell me, what's the latest lefty plot to ruin your very "English-Patriot" way of life?
Please, if you read this and still use the cesspit that Twittler has become, stop right now
The previous time I discussed this with someone, "anti-semitism" was brought up.
Enough.
Compare any normal twitter feed with mainstream news and tell me where the anti-semitism lives. On twitter I see countless stories of the Oct 7 victims. In mainstream media, at least in Norway, I see countless stories about poor Hamas being bombed back to the stone age. On twitter I see stories about Palestinians being warned in advance of bombs targeting Hamas. They refuse to abandon their duties as human shields and... On mainstream media all I see is pictures of the same "civilians" covered with blood.
Any anti-semitism on twitter pales in comparison to the media that made these claims.
I bet they are now changing their claims about what the problem was.
I saw a wonderful comment, should have saved it, that sums up the current situation quite well.
The antisemitism coming from 'the right' is mostly fringe nut jobs who have little or no power and relatively little reach.
However what we are seeing right now is from people in positions of power and authority and these people identify as politically left.
It is (currently) not the far right running professors off campus for supporting Israel or assaulting Jewish people in the street or posting about how they wish Hamas had done more.
And from what we've seen of some rather high profile cases of blatant anti-Islamic rhetoric, that is also (currently) coming from the political left.
Imagine the rightful outrage if a right leaning professor had told their students they could get extra credit for going to an anti-Israel protest?
Maybe we are finally seeing these people's true colours?
Hmmm. When you are sat off to the far right, everything else looks like the left, eh? I hate to point it out to you, but Israel's government is far-right, and Hamas is far-right. It's not a left vs right thing at all, and, quite frankly, you'd be well advised to not get involved, because there is no "winning argument" to be had when people are killing each other due to opposing ideologies.
As for the "antisemitism coming from the right" being from fringe nut-jobs and having little reach, the problem is exactly this: The hate speech on Twitter "X" isn't necessarily from the right or from the left (although, by definition, most hate speech actually is right-wing, we have to acknowledge that there are those on the far left who are equally frothing at the gills), but the guy who owns the platform has been promoting the right-wing hate speech stuff. This amplifies two different biases: right wing political ideology (the rich should own everything, the market is god, etc.), and hate speech (antisemitism, islamophobia, white supremacism, homophobia, sexism, and all the other isms that go with it). The problem is Musk - by promoting the sort of things he does promote, he lends them legitimacy. It;s the problem of boundary creep - if you can make one thing more acceptable, you can push the boundaries of acceptability, and, without invoking Godwin's Law, history does teach us where that leads.
In summary, though, we shouldn't be getting hung up on whether hate speech is coming from the left or right, and from that infer that the right, or the left, is good, and the other bad. That's simplistic nonsense, and plays directly into the hands of populists with their "divide and conquer" mentality, and culture war agendas. We should scroll back a bit and realise that bad things are bad, and good things are good, and when it comes down to it, hate speech that ultimately puts people's lives at risk is bad, as is one person having so much money and power that they can control what people see and think.
"and Hamas is far-right"
Trying to work out if you are high. The mental gymnastics of the rest of your post desperately trying to claim that somehow this is entirely the fault of one side, that side being the one you dislike, and that your side is squeaky clean. The party applauds your efforts Comrade Muskrat.
You gonna tell me this guy is far right?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67492512
This does reenforce the age old trope about how the left call everything they dislike as far right.
The far right have occupied UC Berkeley
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/uc-berkeley-academic-offered-her-students-extra-credit-for-going-to-pro-palestinian-protests-and-lobbying-congress-about-gaza/ar-AA1iPRFn
But, but, but "National Socialism" had "socialist" in it donchaknow, so they must have been socialists, right? Sorry, left?
This is actually how badly some people's thought processes work. They also probably believe North Korea is a democracy, because it has the word "Democratic" in "The Democratic people's Republic of North Korea" (and that it's a republic, too, and not essentially a hereditary monarchy).
As for Hamas being left-wing, I don't think that's a very good descriptor for a group of people who seized power in Gaza through violent means, and whose ideology involves wiping out all the Jews in Israel. I don't see much socialism in this course of behaviour, but perhaps I am wrong, and someone can point me in the direction of all the socialist policies they have been enacting in Gaza? Perhaps they have a really good social security network I've not heard about? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
Maybe it's possible here, that the simpleton commenters are confusing Hamas with the citizenry of Gaza, and equate support for innocent civilians (largely from the left of the political spectrum, because those on the right tend to care only about themselves) for support for Hamas terrorists? If so, then I'm sadly disappointed by exactly how hard-of-thinking some people are.
'Hamas being left-wing, I don't think that's a very good descriptor for a group of people who seized power in Gaza through violent means,'
You do know that the people voted for Hamas in elections and Hamas WON. That is how and why they are in power.
'and whose ideology involves wiping out all the Jews in Israel'
That also seems to be the ideology of many of their supporters.
'confusing Hamas with the citizenry of Gaza'
You act as if Hamas is some entity that is entirely external to Gaza and just turned up. The people carrying AK47s and shooting at people on the 7th WERE the citizens of Gaza.
Probably take a walk outside your echo chamber every once in a while. It might help you.
There are over half a million people living in Gaza, they don't all have AK47s, you absolute melt.
Just like the average Israeli citizen isn't a right-wing religious settler that is actively forcing people from their land, but the Israeli government is led by people very much of this mindset.
Just like the average UK citizen isn't hell-bent on deporting desperate refugees to a developing country i the Horn of Africa as a "deterrent" to fleeing for your life, despite our government being obsessed with this nonsense policy.
But then, you probably are one of those people (hiding behind anonymity) who agrees with this policy, and also thinks that everyone else thinks exactly like you and agrees with it too. hell, you probably think that we need to get rid of our human rights because you are too stupid to learn from history. Rather than bleating about "echo chambers" and other clichéd shibboleths, try actually using your brain, and learn how to critically evaluate sources of information, rather than just soaking up any bullshit your favourite populist happens to be spouting. Physician, heal thyself?
'clichéd shibboleths'
Says the person who spouts such intellectual nuggets such as 'Hamas are far right'.
'rather than just soaking up any bullshit your favourite populist happens to be spouting'
And this never happens on the political left? Pretty much every fiery but peaceful protest is based on people soaking up the latest populist crap. Populism isn't a uniquely one sided thing.
Having worked with members of the IDF in the past I'm well aware what they are like and I'm quite surprised that they've not wiped Gaza from the face of the earth.
"Just like the average Israeli citizen isn't a right-wing religious settler that is actively forcing people from their land, but the Israeli government is led by people very much of this mindset"
The Apartheid regime imposed by the ZSTG is supported by Zionists, who are Anti-Palestinian Racists largely from The Ukraine and the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Jews have opposed Zionism since its inception since its a staggeringly racist idea which tramples on many basic tenants of Judaism. The Zionist Settler Colonizers who came to murder Palestinians and steal their land are fully paid up racists devoted to crimes against humanity.
There are 2.6 Million people in Gaza. 47% of which are children. There are Human Shields in 1948 occupied Palestine. Which is why all the major Military establishments in Tel Aviv are thickly blanketed with Civilian Housing.
HaKirya, or The Kirya (Hebrew: הַקִּרְיָה, lit. The Campus), is an area in central Tel Aviv, consisting of an urban military base north of Kaplan Street, and a civilian area south of it.HaKirya contains the Tel Aviv District's government center and the major Israel Defense Forces (IDF) base Camp Rabin (Hebrew: מַחֲנֶה רַבִּין, Mahaneh Rabin), named for Yitzhak Rabin. It was one of the first IDF bases and has served as the IDF's headquarters since its founding in 1948. Being located in a dense urban environment, the base serves mainly command, administrative, communications, and support functions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HaKirya
No. He's far right because of the Nazi crimes against humanity for which he provided the ideological support for in his far-right book. Not the fuckknuckle statement " that he wasn't a particularly likeable chap."
Wikipedia has the essential points,
Nazism (/ˈnɑːtsɪzəm, ˈnæt-/ NA(H)T-siz-əm; also Naziism /-si.ɪzəm/),[1] the common name in English for National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus, German: [natsi̯oˈnaːlzotsi̯aˌlɪsmʊs] ⓘ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany.[2][3][4] During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitlerism (German: Hitlerfaschismus). The later related term "neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the Second World War.Nazism is a form of fascism,[5][6][7][8] with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. It incorporates a dictatorship,[4] fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, anti-Slavism,[9] scientific racism, white supremacy, Nordicism, social Darwinism and the use of eugenics into its creed. Its extreme nationalism originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist Völkisch movement which had been a prominent aspect of German ultranationalism since the late 19th century. Nazism was strongly influenced by the Freikorps paramilitary groups that emerged after Germany's defeat in World War I, from which came the party's underlying "cult of violence".[10] It subscribed to pseudo-scientific theories of a racial hierarchy,[11] identifying ethnic Germans as part of what the Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race.[12] Nazism sought to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous German society based on racial purity which represented a people's community (Volksgemeinschaft).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism
It's entirely the fault of the Zionist State Terrorist group which has a record of terrorist atrocities dating back to 1900. The resistance to occupation is a response to occupation.
The occupation disappears, there will be no resistance movements. This particular one dates from 1990s - so 90 years post ZSTG - 50 years post Nakba - 25 years post Naksa.
The Occupied people resisting the occupier are not equally to blame for being occupied.
The Eastern European perpetrators are solely responsible for the occupation of Western Asia, the denial of the rights of self-determination to the Palestinian People.
The Palestinians have the legal right to resist apartheid. The Genocide convention makes all parties obligated to prevent Genocide.
The attempts to both sides the Occupation of Palestine by an Eastern European Terrorist group is dishonest.
People deserve equal rights. The People of Palestine are the sole legitimate participants in this resistance to Occupation, Apartheid, and Genocide. The perpetrators of this crimes against humanity are Terrorists - using violence against civilians in service of furthering their criminal activities.
The Zionist movement originated in Europe, it's a colonial movement dispossessing the People of Palestine.
Various UN officials and investigative mechanisms have reaffirmed that Israel's permanent occupation of Palestinian territory has no legal validity and has resulted in de facto annexation, which may amount to a war crime.https://www.globalr2p.org/countries/israel-and-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/
MediaMatters, the left-wing antisemitic organisation that made up this nonsense is being investigated for fraud by two American states, as well as sued by Twitter for defamation when they lied about this nonsense.
But it worked - it gave people who want to believe the left wing narrative an excuse to believe it.
Yeah, yeah, let Elon sue MM for "defamation". Elon will have to open up Twitter to discovery, which will show MM has truth as their defence.
As for being investigated by two states, I can only see that Elon's buddies in Texas have started one. Or do you honestly think it's coincidental that only Elon's mates are investigating?
They didn't lie. Some say they went unfairly out of their way to trigger the results, but the results were valid, and they wouldn't have occurred if the problem didn't exist.
But more importantly, they highlighted anti-Semitic and pro Nazi posts... In what alternative universe does that make them anti-Semitic? Or is "everything I don't agree with is antisemitic, and I love Musk, so even criticism of anti-Antisemitism on his platform anti-Semitic" your new rule to replace the "everything i don't agree with is left wing?"
As for the two states, the attorney general for Texas referred to Media Matters as "radical anti-free-speech" in his statement: (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1726767436618191177)
Your argument would be a lot better if there was actually anyone serious supporting your ridiculous campaigns.
Creating contrived situations that no other user experienced in real life and then pretending that it happened naturally is lying.
"As for the two states, the attorney general for Texas referred to Media Matters as "radical anti-free-speech" in his statement: (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1726767436618191177)"
There's no better description. It's literally their reason for being. They want Twitter to go back to shutting down any discussion that is inconvenient to their favoured causes. They are so opposed to free speech that they are willing to commit fraud in order to do so.
The study which you don't link to doesn't say that. The well-educated audience is well acquainted with the Nazi crimes against Humanity committed by European racist who first dehumanized their victims.
To put it bluntly, we see you for what you are. An advocate for Zionism. A younger generation correctly identifies the subjugation of Western Asian Palestinians by Eastern European Zionists, as being a crime against humanity.
The Zionist PR attempts to have some old guy download some nonsense off the internet as present it as "credible evidence", then retract. The Hasbara is simply not credible https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/need-comic-relief-watch-israels-pr-stunt-collapse
Where is the City-Beneath-A-City promised by the Terrorist bombing the Hospitals of Gaza - not a (halal) sausage. Just an ever growing bag of Guns (METAL) behind an MRI machine (HUGE MAGNET)
The people are pro-Palestinian because they are pro justice. Pro Palestine, because they are pro-Judaism, and therefore anti-Zionist.
There is no widespread Jew Hatred problem - but people utterly despise the Zionist cowards who are murdering the unarmed while demanding victim status. The young Jewish people getting arrested, are anti-Zionist - Pro Palestine, Pro Judaism, Pro Justice. The Jewish block leads every Palestine Solidarity March.
The young Jewish heros are showing that despite racist relatives, they will not allow their religious identity to be hijacked to support atrocities against the Palestinian people.
That's not quite right. Semites are speakers of a Semitic language (as first language) - Arabic/Hebrew/Aramaic - So White Eastern European Jews who speak Hebrew (as first language) are also Semitic peoples
It's true that Arabic speakers form the largest group of Semitic peoples. Defacto Zionism as an anti-Jewish and anti-Arab ideological basis for the crimes against humanity committed by ZST, is an antisemitic belief system.
Given you are on record as saying the Nazi's are not "Far Right" and you regularly post comments in support of the Apartheid regime perpetrated by the Zionist State Terror group. Maybe you should seek some political reeducation.
The ideological convergence between the Zionists and the Nazi's has been pointed out regularly but it's rare to find so naked an exponent of the point. - You are explicitly denying the Nazi crimes against humanity are 'Far Right', for reasons you've not felt fit to expound.
Seek some help. All people deserve equal rights. The Nazi's were/are Far Right.
I'm assuming the down-vote you had accumulated at the time of this reply comes from someone who either disagrees that Twitler has messed up their platform-of-choice for rage-posting, or someone whose head is so far up Musk's posterior digestive opening that they don't perceive the possibility that they may be a "fanboi" at all, or possibly, someone who is in deep denial that they ever were in thrall to such a repellent human being.
Xitter monthly users reach new high in 2023 says Elon.
The place is infested with bots.
Not a day goes by that I don't get at least two, usually three, followers featuring a scantily clad attractive woman who's profile links to some cam site. They'll be following thousands each, have few or zero followers and have made no posts. Obvious porn bot is obvious.
The smarter ones are using AI to produce some Lorem Ipsum posts so they *seem* human at a casual glance.
And we should give that claim exactly as much credence as the claim that Teslas will be fully autonomous in 2016. And 2017. And 2018. And 2019. And would be able to act as an autonomous taxi providing revenue of over $100K a year in 2020. And so on.
The only public figure who has a higher density of lies per sentence is Trump.
The AI numbers seem really vague. I know a lot of people (myself included) who played with ChatGPT when it came out, it was a bit of an online fad. Are people using those services continuously though? I have no idea what rate people are actually making these services a part of their daily lives.
My wife occasionally uses it to create suggested prose for blog posts, for example openings and conclusions, which then has to be fact-checked and heavily edited for style, but it is useful in sometimes getting past writers' block. I'd say it's more of a crutch for creativity, in this context, than a replacement for it. The actual content it produces is heavily unreliable, and it "hallucinates" facts on a regular basis. The thing is, though, that the fact checking this requires often spurs the research to unearth the actual facts, so it saves me the time and effort of being the one who she bounces ideas off.
I know people who use image-generating GAI services (DALL⸳E and so on) for joke images during work chats and such. Presumably, if they answered the question honestly, they'd say they "use GAI". I suspect there are a lot of users in that boat: occasionally use the things for irrelevancies, but not for anything real.
Personally, I've never bothered. I'm not impressed with the results I've seen; and I think these are competitive intellectual tools (ones that discourage rather than encourage thinking), and I'm not interested in paying that price. I'd much rather exercise my brain.
> Presumably for completing essays which is arguably the only thing ChatGPT is good at.
You can have fun in triggering its gate-keeper filter. Already our monitors of acceptable opinion are at work. “Don't you see that the whole aim of ChatGPT is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
Presumably for completing essays which is arguably the only thing ChatGPT is good at.
It's a pretty poor argument, though, because although it produces readable prose, it hallucinates facts all over the place, and due to the way that it essentially a big pattern matching and generation engine, the patterns it produces are often nearly-true; that is, things that sound plausible but have as much truth as something made up by "that guy in the pub".
"it hallucinates facts all over the place, and due to the way that it essentially a big pattern matching and generation engine, the patterns it produces are often nearly-true"
So...essentially it spits out what it thinks to be true based on the knowledge it possesses? Isn't that how we as humans function?
Sounds like we need to have larger groups of LLMs that were trained on different datasets to debate and derive facts.
It's how human blaggers operate.
I'll give an example. My wife was writing a blog post about an element of Irish folklore known as the Dullaghan, which is a variation of a "headless horseman" myth,with some fairly specific elements to it. She used ChatGPT to help come up with some facts about the Dullaghan, to help elaborate what she had written. These followed general folkloric themes, and sounded plausible, but when she dug further, they actually contradicted the documented folklore. These sounded superficially as if they could be correct, but were not. It looks as if the "AI" had taken broader themes from folklore (a lot of myths follow similar themes and there are a number of common elements that crop up in a number of places) and used the patterns behind these to hallucinate "alternative facts".
Sadly, I can't remember the exact things that it came up with that were wrong, but I do remember they were very wrong.
Another good example is the one in the US where some lawyers used ChatGPT to come up with citations of previous cases that supported their case. Unfortunately for them, when they presented these to the judge, they turned out to not exist, and they got a stern telling off and a hefty fine.
Reported right here in El Reg
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